


put it all on the line for you

by tsuluio



Category: Splatoon
Genre: A TON OF ANGST, Angst, Family Dynamics, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, inkopolis has no power au, nonlinear storytelling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-25 17:29:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20029609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsuluio/pseuds/tsuluio
Summary: "I'd die for you, you know that?""What?" Skull turns to look at his friend. They're both fourteen, young and full of promises."You heard me."





	put it all on the line for you

**Author's Note:**

> guys i wrote this at 4am pls forgive me for the shitty angst bc i lost steam in the middle and then forgot abt it and went back to it 3 hrs later
> 
> i've been listening to alibi too much

"I'd die for you, you know that?"

"What?" Skull turns to look at his friend. They're both fourteen, barely into the turfing world, yet they've already managed to make a name for themselves as promising players. It's amazing how they managed to get this far in such a short time, but Skull can't really think about it now.

"You heard me." Aviator is staring out at the waters below Bluefin Depot. Neither are in danger of falling in, but they're extremely high up so just the slightest wrong move could send them into the ocean. "I'd die for you."

Skull hesitates. "I... don't really recommend that."

"You don't have to." His friend's voice is resolute, and Skull can't tell what the other is thinking through those sunglasses. "I just wanted you to know."

Skull blinks once, twice, before he nods. Aviator turns to meet his gaze and he smiles the best he can, tugging his bandanna down so the other can see his expression clearly. "Alright. I'd do the same if I had the chance."

Aviator returns the nod, seemingly satisfied, before looking back over the water. "Cool."

\--

Blue Team comes, Blue Team goes. They challenge Purple Team twice and beat them the second time and Skull honestly wasn't expecting that. Aviator meets him outside their apartment, wiping off the remnants of enemy ink, signature smirk plastered to his face. Skull resists the urge to kiss it off of him, and though they've been dating for a month at most, it feels like they've been in a relationship since they were children, and in a way, they have been.

"Bet you didn't see that coming."

"I didn't," Skull responds truthfully. "My scope doesn't extend into the future, Avi."

"Sure seems like it."

"It doesn't, I assure you. It's just training, you know that."

"Yeah. I do. I'm sure you can train enough to predict the future."

".... You're impossible."

"Thanks, it's one of my defining traits."

He actually laughs a little at that. "You know it's not."

"Then what? My irredeemable charisma? My excellent fashion sense?"

"No, none of those."

Aviator sounds impatient now, but Skull knows he's only joking. "Then what?"

"You don't have defining traits," Skull says at last. "You don't need to. You're just... you. And I couldn't ask for anything more."

"Jeez, no need to get all sentimental on me," Aviator tells him, but Skull can see the fond smile on his face, the one that so clearly said _I care about you too._

\--

"You like him, don't you." Paisley doesn't give Skull a chance to respond; it's not a question anyway. "I can tell both of you are just head over heels, but you just won't admit it."

"We're friends," he says by way of getting her off his back and she clicks her tongue at him.  
"No, you're not. Boyfriends maybe, but not just _friends_."

He can feel the flush creeping up his cheeks and she raises an eyebrow at him in triumph. "See. I'm right."

Skull doesn't have it in him to deny it a second time.

\--

He never, never in his right mind, expected to run into Vintage at all.

The world is full of surprise, it seems. 

Seeing his former friend jostles something inside him, memories he doesn't want to recount. He spends his nights wide awake, staring at the ceiling and listening to Aviator's even breathing from the other side of the bed. Vintage is back. And he isn't anything like how he remembered.

He sits up, glancing over at his partner to make sure the other is still asleep before getting out of bed and moving to the window. The apartment is placed strategically in a spot that overlooks the Square and Skull wonders briefly if the developers of this building did that on purpose, so you could see Off the Hook all the way from here.

"Can't sleep?" Arms, warm from body heat, wrap around his waist, and Skull closes his eyes.

"Didn't think I'd wake you. Sorry."

"S' fine," is the response, and a weight settles itself on Skull's shoulder. "It's Vintage, isn't it?"

He takes his sweet time in replying. "Yeah."

"You know you're better than him now."

"I do but.." He trails off. But what? But he's a coward for not wanting to see Vintage ever again? To want to erase that part of his past?

"But nothing." Aviator's sleepy tone becomes firm, like he's a mom telling Skull what is and what isn't okay to do, like no eating cookies at five in the morning, no forgetting your weapon when you go to practice. Skull allows a slight smile to slip across his face at that. "You aren't him. He's an ass. You aren't."

"You're biased."

"Maybe I am." There's a slight hum before Aviator speaks again. "But even if you _are_ an ass, you aren't as much as he is."

"You don't know that."

"Am I supposed to disagree to that?"

"No."

"Then yes. I know that."

Skull sighs and opens his eyes. The Square is impossibly small, and he can see a few stragglers still heading home after late night's turfing. "How would you know?"

"Because it’s the truth. Also because you're my boyfriend. And my best friend. And literally any other 'friend' title that could come to mind, I can't think right now, but yeah. That."

Skull chuckles softly. "Thanks."

"No problem." A pause. "Can we go back to bed? I'm tired."

"I think I'll stay up a bit more."

"Then I'm staying here. You're warm."

Skull smiles, though he knows Aviator can't see his face right now. "You're impossible."

"You've said that to me. Many times."

Skull just shakes his head, but he allows Aviator to gently lead him back to bed. He falls asleep with a face buried in the nape of his neck, arms loosely wrapped around him, and a full heart.

—

He has no friends and he sits alone in the back of the lunch tables. It’s a Tuesday, he knows that because they always have tacos on Tuesday’s and he’s been staring at this uneaten taco for half an hour. All the other kids have left the tables to go play but he doesn’t feel like playing. 

“Is someone sitting here?” Skull looks up startled to see Aviator, the gap-toothed kid who talked to literally anyone and everyone, grinning at him, taco in his own hand. 

"No?" It comes out more of a question than anything, but Skull moves over to make room for the other. Aviator sits down like he's been with Skull his entire life, and Skull's five-year-old brain can't process the situation. He's _different,_ why would Aviator want to sit with _him_?

"Cool, do you like tacos?"

The question is so random, yet Skull feels like it's the most meaningful thing anyone has said to him so far. It's also the first time that someone hasn't asked him where his eyebrows went. In fact, Aviator hardly seemed concerned about his looks at all; he meets Skull's gaze rather steadily. "Yeah."

"Then why aren't you eating?"

He's blunt, but Skull doesn't really care. "I'm not hungry."

"Can I eat it?" 

Skull frowns a little. "You _have_ a taco."

Aviator looks at the taco in his hand, then back to Skull, before shoving the entire thing into his mouth. Skull watches in slight awe as the five year old in front of him opens his mouth wide enough to accommodate his entire pencil case and just pushes the taco in. It's gone in a second. Aviator spreads his hands, mouth still full. "Now I don't."

Skull laughs then, a real laugh, and he pushes his plate over to Aviator, who grins back at him. "There."

"Thanks!" Aviator takes that taco, but thankfully eats it slower this time. It's a miracle he didn't choke eating the previous one whole, but it was entertaining nevertheless. "So," he says between bites, "what's your name?"

"Skull."

Aviator bobs his head a little. "I'm Aviator."

"I know."

The words slip out before Skull can stop them. Aviator only looks mildly surprised before saying the one sentence that changed Skull's life forever:

"You want to be friends?"

\--

The Squidbeak Splatoon fails and Inkopolis loses power over the next few days. No one can respawn anymore and as Skull is watching the news on yet another Inkling found dead in an alley, Aviator comes into the living smelling like cake batter and chocolate and leans on his shoulder. 

“You better not get cake batter on the couch.”

Aviator huffs softly. “It’s not like I’m coated in it.”

“Close enough.”

“Mm.” Aviator turns his attention to the screen, grimacing. “Another one?”

“Yeah. People are taking advantage.”

“They’re psychopaths.”

“No kidding.”

The screen goes on to show the body of the unfortunate victim and Skull can feel his throat constricting the longer he stares at it. He can’t look away either, and his breath becomes shallower and shallower until the TV suddenly shuts off and Aviator is in front of him, hands clasping his arms. “Skull.”

A beat. “Yeah?”

“Breathe.”

It only then comes to him that he’s been holding his breath for the past few minutes and he lets air flow into his lungs as Aviator counts slowly. When he finally gets a grip on himself he pulls the other into a hug, the gesture wholeheartedly returned. 

“Let’s not watch anything for a week,” Aviator suggests, and the scent of flour enters Skull’s nose as he speaks. 

“Okay.”

\--

He gets lost for the second time that day and Aviator has to track him down and lead him back home again.

"I swear I can't leave you for two seconds," the other is grousing, and Skull notes how much he sounds like a mom in this moment.

"I didn't die," he says without thinking, and Aviator stops where he is, slowly turning to look at Skull.

Skull feels like he said something wrong, but all Aviator does is flash him a smirk and say, "No. You didn't."

Skull still feels like he said something wrong, and resolves not to joke about death ever again.

\--

"Why don't you have eyebrows?"

The world seems to stop in that moment and Skull has to take a minute to breathe. Of course someone was bound to ask that; ordinary teenagers don't blurt the first thing that comes to mind with everyone new they meet, but Goggles isn't ordinary.

He can feel Aviator tense beside him, and he gently touches his boyfriend on the shoulder, making the other relax without saying a single word.

_It's fine._

"I was born this way." What else could he say? It wasn't like he was subject to crazy experiments when he was younger.

Goggles seems to take it as the right answer. "Ah, okay!"

\--

It was a mistake to even venture out after dark. But they were running late and no way in shell were they going to stay at Humpback Pump Track after closing time. 

They're smart enough to avoid taking detours, especially since there's high risk for being jumped, but Skull can hear sudden movement in the distance so he stops, Aviator almost crashing into him.

"Wha--" He shushes his partner as quickly as he can, and spins around, gaze searching the empty Square. There's no one there.

"Skull, what's going on?" Aviator's voice is hushed now, more urgent, and Skull can hear the fear in his voice, his own heartbeat the only thing he can hear.

"I thought I heard something." Skull releases a breath and turns back. "Maybe I was wrong."

"Maybe," Aviator echoes, right as all shell breaks loose.

\--

Leading the S4 is a big responsibility, and though the respective teams are broken up, Skull still keeps in touch with his old teammates. Paisley and Stitch are more preoccupied with league nowadays, but Aviator just solo queues and sometimes leagues when Skull is able to join him. 

The other second in commands seem to have nothing to do either, and Skull watches the four of them get close, closer than the S4 will ever be. Maybe because it's the fact that all four of them have one more thing in common than the S4: looking out for their dumb, lovable leader. 

He sees Aviator hang out with Full Moon, exchange _my teammates are so stupid they did this_ stories with Forge, and mess around with Scuba, and part of him is jealous for that. But every afternoon, Aviator always comes home and somehow, _somehow_ they find time to do something together, be it just going for a walk, leaguing until the lobby closes, or just sitting and talking.

Skull learns to appreciate the little things of his relationship with Aviator, and not for a single second does he think it's not worth his time.

\--

One of Aloha's parties goes wrong one night when a misplaced and forgotten ink mine explodes half the party guests, including part of his own team. Aloha withdraws from the S4 a few weeks later, not that they really turfed anymore. It's too dangerous without stable power sources, and while they do get together to talk, there's no point in strategizing if there's no more matches.

Skull spends most of his time in his apartment, purposefully ignoring the news reports of danger spreading in Inkopolis, and busying himself in doing whatever he can to avoid going outside.

Aviator accompanies him a lot and the two of them spend more time with each other than they have in the past few years. Baking is something that Aviator has been doing for a long time, and he attempts to teach Skull, but there's something about the art that Skull just doesn't get because they end up almost completely coating the place in sugar.

Skull apologizes, but Aviator just laughs and kisses him. "You'll be a good baker someday, I swear."

"That's a lie."

\--

A fist comes out of nowhere and hits him square in the jaw; he reels back and takes a defensive stance.

Aviator gets tackled by two other Inklings and goes down, but Skull can't help him because he's preoccupied as well.

They have knives, which is unfair because both Skull and Aviator are unarmed, though they hold their own the best they can, and they're _winning_.

Until a bastard pulls a blaster from their bag and aims directly at Skull. The bandanna-wearing Inkling is too close to survive a direct hit from the blaster and his struggles with another Inkling is locking him in place.

He looks down the barrel of the weapon, wondering if he'll die here as the trigger is pulled.

Someone knocks into him at full force and shoves him backwards, the _bam_ of the blaster exploding sending a shower of enemy ink around him. Skull shields his face from the backwash, but looks up to see Aviator standing in front of him, gaping hole in his gut, the assailants nowhere to be seen.

\--

They're twelve, watching results from a Splatfest scroll down the screen. Aviator is silent for once, just watching the poll like it's his lifeline while Skull busies himself with the popcorn he brought just for this.  
"You want any?" he asks, and his friend glances over at him, the screen reflecting in his makeshift sunglasses. 

"Nah, I'm fine."

There's a long pause during which Skull is too nervous to say anything. Did Aviator want to be left alone? It wasn't like him to refuse anything Skull offered him.

"Do you think we'll be friends forever?"

Well. He could think of maybe a few more questions that would be worse than this.

"Yeah."

"Even if I had a crush on you, would we still be friends?"

Skull is too engrossed in the TV to really process what Aviator said.

"Yeah."

"Cool."

They lapse into silence, and it's only when Skull is heading home does he realize what Aviator had just implied.

\--

Two seconds and his boyfriend collapses in a pool of his own blood and Skull falls to his knees, struggling towards the other despite the pain lashing up his right thigh. He tilts Aviator’s head back so the other can see him. 

“I— I told you I would—“ Aviator breaks off, coughing up blood and Skull tenderly wipes the rivulets away. “I told you I would die for you.”

“I know. I love you.” The tears are coming hot and thick down his face but it’s all Skull can do to smile reassuringly down at the dying Inkling. 

“You sure you’ll— you’ll be okay? Promise you’ll live as long as you can. Find someone else. Settle down. All that carp.” Aviator chokes on his blood again, or maybe it’s his tears. Either way, his body convulses in agony and Skull finds his hand, holding onto it with all his might like doing so could ease the pain. “I will. Don’t worry.”

“Good.” There’s a brief pause, punctuated by a short cough. “I love you so coddamn much.”

Skull nods and watches as Aviator’s gaze beneath his sunglasses turns glassy, swallowing back more tears as he gently wipes away the tearstains and splotches of blood with the back of his hand. He sits there in silence before his partner’s death really sinks in and he’s suddenly in a feverish motion, hoisting Aviator’s body into his lap, hugging the lifeless form as tightly as he can. He’s all too aware of the tears coming faster and faster as sobs wrack his body. CPR, mouth to mouth, none of it works, and none of it ever will.

Aviator is _gone_. He's gone, and he's never coming back.

\--

He wonders what it'll be like if Aviator never sat down next to him that day, if they hadn't taken a likening to each other almost immediately, if they just hadn't _clicked_. 

Would Aviator still be alive right now? Would they have taken different paths only to meet again? Would he not be feeling this tremendous amount of guilt that treats him every passing day when he wakes up and the other side of the bed is empty and cold? Would he be able to move on? Would he still become as good as a baker as he is, just to honor Aviator and everything he's done? Would he wish he could've done more, just take Aviator and run instead of fighting like idiots? Would they both be alive to joke about the near death experience they had instead of experiencing actual death?

He doesn't really want to know the answers.


End file.
